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Costume Information

General

Cost :

£40

Time Taken :

Not sure - I basically made both the Maya and Pearl costumes in 2 weeks. It's what I do

Description

This began because I'd been intending to make a Maya costume, and when I bought my fabric, it seemed a waste not to make matching costumes when the fabric was cheap and the construction easy, so I roped Ashe into a duo with me. We each have identical robes and obis which are made to fit us individually, then if we ever want to change characters, we simply need to swap jackets, wigs and necklaces. For now though, since I'm shorter, I'm Pearly.

The lilac robes are a polyester twill, dead simple to put together. They're made entirely with French seams, since that fabric loves to fray and my sewing machine's pseudo-overlocking stitch can't always cope. The jackets were also easy to make, again constructed using French seams (except for the awkward curves at the arm holes, which are overlocked) since I wasn't lining them.

The obis and their bows are a layer of craft foam, covered in polycotton. I then sewed strips of fabric to layer over it, creating the impression of it being all wrapped around. I managed to get one pair of sandals with a slight platform heel, and didn't bother trying to get a second, since having Pearl wear flat shoes would emphasise the height difference, so those are just ordinary flip-flops. I simply covered the straps with the same fabric as the obi. The wrist ribbons were chosen to match the obi fabric, and stay in place with a few pieces of double-sided tape.

The necklaces are styrofoam balls, little wooden beads, all sealed with PVA glue and then painted. Eli sculpted the magatamas using fimo clay, painted them and finished up the necklaces.

Sooo the main challenge was the wig styling. The loops are formed around wire, secured by being bent around the base of the ponytail and it's very stable. The ponytail is twisted around the wire and hairsprayed into place, but the hair from the ponytail alone was insufficient, since it was a bit too short, and had strands of all different lengths, so it was hard to get it completely neat and even. Therefore, I used some extensions to sew a weft, which is wrapped around the base of the ponytail, and then used to neatly cover the loops. All the wire, ends of the hair and whatnot is all hidden by the fabric tie around it.

Comments

So. Damned. Cute.

I have to admit, if you'd mentioned you were doing Pearls I would've raised an eyebrow questioningly ;) but that's the best version I've seen - ever. Except maybe the tiny Japanese child slapping Phoenix, but hey.

As usual you pull off the impossible hair, and I'm starting to wonder if gravity just makes special exceptions for you or something :P And two costumes that good in two weeks? Dark sorcery is present, I swear.

Well I wouldn't normally have chosen to be Pearly either, but that's how it worked out for optimum height effect, and it's not so bad after all! Having the hair about right did help, and it's a lot of fun to wear.

Eli has the best facial expressions ever and totally does suit Maya! I think it's partly that the wig invokes pure spacktardery the moment you put it on (I was making funny faces in the mirror when I was wearing it to trim the fringe... )

Definitely keen on an Ame group still, that's what my Maya costume was originally for, so I'll be wearing that...unless I make something else new by then...